The Black Forest, cuckoo clocks and our last day.

Today we got up early to make sure we made it onto our 8:30 am excursion to the Black Forest. We docked in Breisach around 8 and the buses arrived around 8:15.

We were driven up through a bit of the German Wine Country on the way up into the mountains. The little towns were beautiful, and one of them happened to be the German town that reaches the highest temperature in the country- Ihringen. After a brief stint on the Autobahn, we continued climbing until we reached Sankt Peter- a beautiful small town at the top. We only had about half an hour here, so we climbed up to the baroque church of St. Peter. You enter through a beautiful courtyard, and then upon entering the church you are overwhelmed with how stunning the interior is. The walls are pure white, and the amount of gold accents is amazing. From a pure aesthetic point of view, this was the most beautiful interior we saw of all of the cathedrals we visited on our trip- and we saw many!

I wish we would have had more time here, but we took off for Hofgut Sternen, which in the end was a bit of a tourist trap. It was made clear that the shops in Breisach were going to be closed in the afternoon, so this was the place to shop. There were glass-blowing demonstrations as well as a lecture on cuckoo clocks. That was it. With the exception of a couple of hotels (one was a Best Western) and a café were you could get Black Forest cake. We tried it but it was pretty bad- not my taste. It might be better in another restaurant though! I felt like I was in Lake Tahoe.

We came back to the boat and packed up as much as we could since we need to head out at 4:15 am. After we finished, we spent some time exploring Breisach, which is also another beautiful town with St. Stephan’s Cathedral being a focal point from all over town.

I can’t believe the trip is over, but it’s time to get home and get back in the groove again. Hopefully everything will go well with the flight tomorrow and the luggage makes it okay. We’ve discussed coming back next year as Mama really enjoyed this trip. I don’t know if we’ll come over for as long as we did this year, but we’ll definitely be back for another river cruise together.

Strasbourg- a quick trip into France.

This morning we went through 2 locks on the way to Strasbourg. It poured down rain most of the way, and it didn’t look promising.

We arrived around 1:30 pm and herded onto the bus at 1:45 in the pouring rain. These bus trips are getting a little much, being a bit of a cattle call. We drove across the Rhine into France to Strasbourg, one of the largest cities here.

We drove through the city, past the European Council and the Commission for Human Rights- more modern buildings. I was a little sleepy from lunch, so I have to admit I wasn’t as “on” for this bus tour.

The rain stopped, and we drove into older parts of the city. The Palais du Rhin and the Place de la Republic were beautiful. Of course as we got closer to our bus stop the rain came back in full force. Everyone on the bus did a 45 minute walking tour into the old city center, but we grabbed a cab. The cab driver “didn’t speak English”, but I think he was bluffing. He was a bit of a jerk, and when we stopped near the main cathedral his true colors came through. When we took off, he had to open the trunk to put the walker in. When we arrived, we got out, opened the trunk, and he started driving off! I knocked the walker around so he heard us. He finally stopped, and I beat the umbrella against the back of the car to remind him I was fully pissed he drove off. I wasn’t worried about the situation, but my mom and her friend were a bit upset that I went up against a brawnier cab driver.

We stopped at a café to wait on the rain to stop, and it did! We then walked around town for about the next 2 hours. It really is a beautiful city. Check out some of the photos.

Two beautiful German cities: Heidelberg and Speyer.

Today we docked in Mannheim and took the buses to Heidelberg. We weren’t sure what kind of day it would be since it was pouring down rain. Mama was a little freaked out with how slick everything was, but we made it up the ramp and onto the bus. We drove through Heidelberg and went straight up to the castle. The castle was beautiful. Part of it is in ruins. In the wine cellar there is the biggest wine barrel in the world.

The bus drove us down into old town and we had a few hours to explore. We had lunch in one of the first plazas we saw walking into town. We had beers and I pigged out on rumpsteak and fries. Mama found a red hat that she has been the center of attention since we arrived back on the boat.

Since her walker is like controlling a jackhammer on these cobblestone streets, we found out from Boyd on Sunday that there are better solutions in Europe than what she has. So we found a store that had a really cool walker! The new one is so much lighter and folds up with the center handle.

The buses dropped us off in Speyer, where I toured by myself later in the evening. The cathedral was gorgeous, and must have been recently cleaned on the outside as it looked new. It was completed in 1061. I wish we would have had more time in both Heidelberg and Speyer, but it was a lot to do both in one day. Speyer was completely pristine and felt spatially bigger than Heidelberg due to the main street being wider. Mama didn’t go into Speyer since it was quite a hike from the boat and she was tired from our big treks around Heidelberg.

Castles, castles and more castles.

Mama wanted to take a break and not get up early as we had a 8 am excursion time and the castle we were supposed to visit was a steep climb with insane cobblestones. I got up and went on the bus. We docked in Koblenz and rode up to Marksburg Castle. The leaves are starting to turn here so it felt very fall. The castle dates back to the 13^th century. It was amazing to see something that was so primitive compared to the castles we visited in England and Scotland. There was an amazing view over the Rhine from all directions.

The ship came and picked us up below in Braubach, a pretty little town in the valley that’s on the way up to the castle. The trip down the Rhine was incredible after we left. I just counted in the guidebook and we saw around 14 castles on this stretch of the trip. Sitting on the top deck you get a 360 degree view. Many of the castles are now privately-owned, and get subsidy money from the government. Some have been converted into hotels. A few are just ruins.

Along the way are vineyards on the sides of the mountains. The hillsides are really steep, and it’s very interesting compared to what you see in California. We passed by an interesting church in which you must enter a bar on the way in! See photo- you can see the church on the back half of a building.

We docked later in the afternoon in Rüdesheim, a small touristy town. We took a toy-like train from the boat up into the heart of the tourist district. We skipped the antique musical instrument museum and headed out and about. It was a cute little town, but it was reminded me of a mini-Myrtle Beach due to all the cheesy tourist pandering and cheap souvenir shops.

First stop: Cologne.

We traveled through the night and into the morning to arrive in Cologne by 1pm. It was quite a distance from Amsterdam and the ship doesn’t go that fast. Our room is big for a cruise ship. It’s the biggest room I’ve ever had even compared to the big ships. It’s definitely not the size that we got used to in London, but it will work.

Our daily routine consists of me getting coffee and toast for Mama and bringing that back to her in the room. I then go back and have breakfast in the dining room.

I haven’t been able to update the blog as much as I’d like. I’m revisiting some days now. Every night we have long dinners and have met some pretty interesting people. There are 2 couples from England that are great, as well as another mother/son team from Decatur, Alabama.

Cologne was really interesting, and especially after seeing some other cities here in Germany. Most of Cologne was bombed in WWII, so there are a lot of buildings that are newer. One thing that wasn’t bombed that is absolutely striking is the Cologne Cathedral. It dates back to 1248 and wasn’t finished until 1880. The architecture and scale is amazing. Check out the shot I took at night from across the bridge looking back at the city. We walked around a little but it was raining a bit too much. We found a great department store that had a section with traditional German attire, with some interesting more fashionable re-interpretations.

The trip to Amsterdam: trains, pains, and trolleys. Off we go down the Rhine!

We headed to the train station at 7:45 to catch head to Amsterdam. The train was leaving at 8:30 and the hotel said for us to leave when we did. Unfortunately the hotel didn't know we had 8 pieces of luggage. The trolleys were at the other end of the train station so I was running. They moved people through security pretty quickly. We then had an escalator on an incline, so me pushing the big trolley and my mom with her walker, it was quite a struggle. The trolley started rolling back, but I stabilized it- then I hit the stop button at the top so Mama could make it off.

As soon as we got the luggage on- it took off! We had beautiful views of the Dutch countryside, as well as the 15 or so minutes in the chunnel.

Changing trains was crazy- our train got in at 11:35 and our connection was leaving at 11:55. We arrived and there were no carts. I ran down the platform and intercepted a worker who had a cart for getting boxes off the train. We took off and made it to the other platform, getting the bags on to the train just before the doors closed.

The train arrived in Amsterdam and there were no carts anywhere- information there said "carry them yourself!" I was able to carry 6 of them- thank goodness for roller bags!

The boat was nearby, and we got there- with the help of a cab driver who was a jerk.

Boyd Coyner and his wife Karin and their three beautiful children came and had some drinks on the upper deck of the boat. Boyd and I went to Hampden-Sydney together and then we worked together later in advertising at Goodby. It was great to see them as the last time we saw each other was 4 years ago.

We got up the next morning- a little later than the organized group as we decided to just go straight to the Anne Frank house. Mama made it all the way to the top- which if you don't know it's an Amsterdam house, which is very narrow and tall with steep stairs. It was a pretty amazing experience and I highly recommend going there. Floor-by-floor you are taken through her story.

The boat took off and we headed down the Rhine-Amsterdam Canal. The landscape was amazing. There were beautiful rows of trees along the banks and the countryside is pristine farmland. We started getting the acquainted with how things work on board. It's just like a regular cruise line, except on a smaller scale. The bar is great and we spent a lot of time on the roof looking at the scenery. This is where things really come together. On a normal cruise all you see most of the time is water- on the Rhine you get constantly beautiful scenery!

Tea at the Ritz, the British Museum and packing up 8 bags.

Saturday morning we slept in as it was the last day for awhile we could. I had bought a blazer the previous afternoon and went to pick it up. While I was there I picked out a shirt that was a little dressier for our 11:30 tea reservation at the Ritz. I got back to the hotel just in time to add a tie and get Mama. We got a table right at the front and spent the next hour and a half. The assortment of sandwiches was great, but I'm not a butter guy and there was butter on everything except the dessert and scones! The waiters were taking photos of different tables, so he took my camera and took the photo I posted here. Although I was a bit upset to not have a coat and tie with me to wear, I was happy to see there was tradition here. I think we've all seen enough of casual in our lifetime- and it's nice that civilization still lives.

The British Museum was great. I was amazed at all the ancient artifacts from Egypt and the Rosetta Stone. Mama was looking specifically for Mesopotamia, but that particular exhibit rooms were being renovated. We spent about 2 hours, then headed down Oxford Street to Selfridge's. There's quite a similarity in sensibilities to Barney's in the U.S., but on a much bigger scale.

Sunday we leave for Amsterdam with some crazy quick connections, so we'll see if we make them!

Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge

On Friday, we started out early around 8 am and caught the Evan Evans connection to our tour bus. The bus left London and took us to Windsor Castle. At that point we realized that we were doing the Reader's Digest Condensed version of these places since they were pretty spread out. We had about a 2 hours at Windsor Castle and Bath, and about 45 minutes at Stonehenge. At Windsor Castle the main tour group went to the royal apartments, but Mama wanted to see Henry VIII, so we toured St. George's Chapel. The chapel was absolutely amazing inside- no pictures allowed though. We walked around the grounds as well.

Since time was tight, we grabbed a sandwich and ate on the bus- no beer during that lunch. It started pouring right when we got back to our seat, so timing was perfect.

Bath was about 2 hours away, so we both nodded off on the way. The baths weren't mobility-friendly, so we toured around the top floor looking down, then headed about town. We returned after a little shopping to have high tea at the Pump Room, next door to the Baths. Except we had beer and a glass of the water out of the spring. Mama thought it would heal everything- it tasted like hot water out of some bad pipes.

Stonehenge was a couple of hours away, and we arrived to full force winds. I had to pull the walker along as the winds were pushing back hard as we walked through the tunnel and up the hill to Stonehenge. We just walked out and took some pictures and left. It was too windy even to listen to the audio tour. The bus arrived back in London around 7:30. I had to hold Mama back from snapping at a couple of rude American thirteen year olds and their father. I had snapped at the once. They were always talking or snickering while our tour guide was talking. It was the first time we encountered rude Americans- most everyone else had been rude Europeans (I'm excluding the Brits and the Scots here!).

Tomorrow we're having tea at the Ritz (I ended up buying a coat, a shirt and a tie!) and off to the British museum in the afternoon.